<p><LINK href="notes.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <SPAN class="big"> You Are Not Your Rejection Slips -- FogCon 2012</span> <span class="dateline">31.03.2012 16.30h</span></p>
<ul class="taglist">
<li class="tags">
Writing
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<li class="tags">
Publishing
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<li class="tags">
Editors
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<DIV class="intro">
Learn techniques for coping with the inevitable ups and downs or a writing career. How can you maintain a sense of self-worth after a hundred rejection slips? How do you handle the feelings of being simultaneously the most brilian writer ever and the biggest pile of s<em>*</em> in the field?
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<div class="panelists">
<ul>
<li>John Joseph Adams</li>
<li>Christie Yant</li>
<li>Cassie Alexander (Mod)</li>
<li>Gabrielle Harbowy</li>
<li>Andrea Blythe
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<h3 id="notes">Notes</h3>
<div class="notes">
<p>Being a writer, Gabrielle got more sensitive as an editor.</p>
<p>How do you handle rejection?</p>
<p>CY: read and reread &quot;Myrtle the Essay&quot; AB: Also researched a lot CA: treated it like a business CY: created a submission strategy even before the first submission GH: rejection only means it was not right for that market, right then</p>
<p>How many rejections before retiring a piece?</p>
<p>CA: Many give up too soon JJA: Don't reject your own story by not submitting it. GH: some invited authors turned down intive with &quot;I'm not worthy&quot; of fellow writers. JJA: incomplete nofnform rjections can be harmful to write. Eds shouldn't touch what they won't buy. Also, there are different needs for different editors. AB: May just not fit with an issue. AB: Personalized rejections can encourage a writer. JJA: It can help a writer to build a following by publishing with the same publisher. GH: Some publishers have right of rifrst refusal AH: One doesn't have to be perfect in submission format, but it is respectful of the editor.</p>
<p>How many rewrite requests are sent out by editors?</p>
<p>GH: 1/yr average over 4 years.</p>
<p>Orpahed works? Market went out of business.</p>
<p>How do you keep heart, when work is rejected time after time?</p>
<p>JJA: Put away the stor yfor later. Unlocked achievements -- open, themed anthologies CA: All you have control over is the writing. Separate the business and writing aspects, or you will be disappointed. JJA: A rejection is the <em>story</em>, not the <em>person</em> writing it.</p>
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<h3 id="sources">Sources:</h3>
<Div class="bibliography">
<ul>
<li><a href="http://duotrope.com/">Duotrope</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ralan.com/">Ralan</a></li>
<li>[Twitter[(http://twitter.com/) feeds &amp; blogs of editors, and the panelists Conventions
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<div class="notes">
CA: build your brand GH: The importance of the first paragraph CY: Nice to hear &quot;please send more&quot; JJA: It is good to be fast in rejection.</li>
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<p>Rejection by editors still hurts, though.</p>
<p>Final thoughts:</p>
<ul>
<li>AB is immune to rejection slip-- loves bieng a part of things being made, potentiallity, anything is possible.</li>
<li>GH: Editors want every submission to be &quot;The One&quot;, positive until they can't be. Stick with it. Don't reject the editor without trying.</li>
<li>CA: Only thing that can stop you is you. Keep writing.</li>
<li>CY: It gets lonely and dark at times. Make it as much a machine as possible. Editors are on your side.</li>
<li>JJA: Dont' give up on individual editors, either. He rejected 50 stories from one writer, then accepted one. Keep your options open, not publishing something doesn't mean that type is not possible.
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